Horseback Riding I am an expert on being myself; I’m an expert on following what I love to do and I absolutely love horseback riding. Winston Churchill once said, “no hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle”. I have spent many hours of my free time horseback riding, thus proving me to be an expert.
Around the age of seven, I was watching Disney Channel when a commercial about children’s hobbies came on. One of the girls featured was a barrel racing horseback rider and immediately after seeing that commercial, I told my parents that I wanted to be a horseback rider too. My mom looked into different barns around my area and we took a tour with one of my neighbor’s who recommended a barn about ten minutes from my house- Pond View Farm.
I met the instructor, Erica, and within the year, my mom set up a few private lessons to get me started. In these lessons, I learned about the basics; before each ride, the horse must be brushed and it has to be done in a certain order. First, you must currycomb the horse all over. Then you must hard brush, soft brush, brush their mane and pick their feet. Erica taught me how to put my saddle together and how to put the correct bridle on. Right off the bat I learned that horseback riding is a lot of hard work, but it pays off with plenty of rewards.
After private lessons, I was moved to a larger group lesson where we learned more advanced maneuvers such as how to trot, canter and jump and I would be able to learn from my fellow riders. During group lessons, we would either stay in the ring and work on our individual skills or go out on a trail and work on the skills it takes to go up and down the mountains in our area. During lessons, no one would ever ride the same horse weeks in a row. In other words, we would rotate horses every time we had a lesson because each horse has its unique personality and therefore, they all have their own quirks. Riding different horses allows a rider to conquer any difficulties that are thrown their way, making them a stronger rider and more confident in their skills. Lesson after lesson and year after year, my skills advanced due to my instructor and my drive to learn the sport.
Practicing and learning from your mistakes is a large part of horseback riding; you need to learn from your experiences. After entering my first horseback riding show in the beginner class where the riders were required to walk and trot in the ring, I only placed fourth in this competition. Placing fourth pushed me to enter more shows to improve my standing. I worked and practiced hard in order to enter the next level of classes in the competition (one where the riders were required to walk, trot, canter, and jump). While I was practicing to enter the tougher competition, I had a really bad fall. I tried to jump an old, white painted X while riding Joker, but the paint was chipping off and he got really scared and stopped short. I, however, kept going over the jump due to momentum and landed pretty badly on my arm. My right arm was cut up to about the elbow with rocks stuck in the open, bleeding wound. Right after I fell, I got right back on and forced Joker over the jump that gave us problems. Even though I was in pain and scared it would happen again, I faced my fears and conquered them, proving to learn from a bad experience and further become confident in my abilities. The next day, I won four ribbons: first, second, second, and champion.
Erica stopped formally showing Pond View Farm after my last show, but instead decided to enter a team competition called a hunter pace. A hunter pace is an eight to ten mile trail in the woods where each team made up of about two to four riders tries to compete for the best time to complete it. Within the trail, there are obstacles such as trees, rivers, drop-downs and hay bales for each team to jump. My team and I have won various ribbons due to these competitions. No matter what kind of situation I am in while riding (whether it be a formal show, a hunter pace, or a lesson), I always seem to learn a new aspect of the sport.
In order to become an expert in any field, subject or sport, I believe one has to learn to be that way and acquire his or her skills. Every expert needs to learn from other people, criticism, positive feedback and experiences to make them the expert they are. I am an expert at horseback riding due to my ability to learn, my willingness to learn, and my desire to learn.
I am an expert on being myself; I’m an expert on following what I love to do and I absolutely love horseback riding. Winston Churchill once said, “no hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle”. I have spent many hours of my free time horseback riding, thus proving me to be an expert.
Around the age of seven, I was watching Disney Channel when a commercial about children’s hobbies came on. One of the girls featured was a barrel racing horseback rider and immediately after seeing that commercial, I told my parents that I wanted to be a horseback rider too. My mom looked into different barns around my area and we took a tour with one of my neighbor’s who recommended a barn about ten minutes from my house- Pond View Farm.
I met the instructor, Erica, and within the year, my mom set up a few private lessons to get me started. In these lessons, I learned about the basics; before each ride, the horse must be brushed and it has to be done in a certain order. First, you must currycomb the horse all over. Then you must hard brush, soft brush, brush their mane and pick their feet. Erica taught me how to put my saddle together and how to put the correct bridle on. Right off the bat I learned that horseback riding is a lot of hard work, but it pays off with plenty of rewards.
After private lessons, I was moved to a larger group lesson where we learned more advanced maneuvers such as how to trot, canter and jump and I would be able to learn from my fellow riders. During group lessons, we would either stay in the ring and work on our individual skills or go out on a trail and work on the skills it takes to go up and down the mountains in our area. During lessons, no one would ever ride the same horse weeks in a row. In other words, we would rotate horses every time we had a lesson because each horse has its unique personality and therefore, they all have their own quirks. Riding different horses allows a rider to conquer any difficulties that are thrown their way, making them a stronger rider and more confident in their skills. Lesson after lesson and year after year, my skills advanced due to my instructor and my drive to learn the sport.
Practicing and learning from your mistakes is a large part of horseback riding; you need to learn from your experiences. After entering my first horseback riding show in the beginner class where the riders were required to walk and trot in the ring, I only placed fourth in this competition. Placing fourth pushed me to enter more shows to improve my standing. I worked and practiced hard in order to enter the next level of classes in the competition (one where the riders were required to walk, trot, canter, and jump). While I was practicing to enter the tougher competition, I had a really bad fall. I tried to jump an old, white painted X while riding Joker, but the paint was chipping off and he got really scared and stopped short. I, however, kept going over the jump due to momentum and landed pretty badly on my arm. My right arm was cut up to about the elbow with rocks stuck in the open, bleeding wound. Right after I fell, I got right back on and forced Joker over the jump that gave us problems. Even though I was in pain and scared it would happen again, I faced my fears and conquered them, proving to learn from a bad experience and further become confident in my abilities. The next day, I won four ribbons: first, second, second, and champion.
Erica stopped formally showing Pond View Farm after my last show, but instead decided to enter a team competition called a hunter pace. A hunter pace is an eight to ten mile trail in the woods where each team made up of about two to four riders tries to compete for the best time to complete it. Within the trail, there are obstacles such as trees, rivers, drop-downs and hay bales for each team to jump. My team and I have won various ribbons due to these competitions. No matter what kind of situation I am in while riding (whether it be a formal show, a hunter pace, or a lesson), I always seem to learn a new aspect of the sport.
In order to become an expert in any field, subject or sport, I believe one has to learn to be that way and acquire his or her skills. Every expert needs to learn from other people, criticism, positive feedback and experiences to make them the expert they are. I am an expert at horseback riding due to my ability to learn, my willingness to learn, and my desire to learn.